I have a bunch of japanese stab binding tutorials but that's not exactly what I was looking for. I've seen around here before books you guys make that don't have the thread running along the height of the book. For instance:

So I'm confused about how to get the result on the left of the picture. Like, do you just compromise from the japanese stab binding? Do you not sew in certain parts?

You might be referring to coptic stitch, which is different than Japanese stab binding. Coptic stitch is done over folded pages, whereas Japanese can use single sheets. There are loads of tutorials out there on how to do this -- or get a book by Keith Smith, which is the only way I could understand what I needed to do!

You can also do what I call album stitch (I have no idea what it is really called, I just know I use it for making albums). You would put your needle through the back of the first hole, up and through, then go into the second hole through the back again, repeating until you reach the end. Then come up. It's my version of doing a coil binding with ribbon. (Wow, worst explanation ever!)

OOOH.... *smacks head* no wonder I couldn't find the right thing! I did a search for coptic stitch tutorial and I found tons here and yes! It's the right one Thank yews <3 I can't really afford books right now though

I actually understood your version of ribbon binding! So it kinda looks like a cross eh? I think I got it. Great, thanks so much!